MSC Cruises just announced it has partnered with BRAND sense in order to offer passengers a scent infused cruise experience. BRAND sense has developed a signature fragrance for MSC Cruises called MED.

Passengers on board the MSC Splendida will be able to enjoy the first ship in the industry to implement this new sensory experience. MSC Cruises will distribute MED through Splendida’s air conditioning system. The toiletries used on board the cruise ship will also be infused with the refreshing scent of MED.

MSC Cruises went to great lengths to ensure that the scent they were infusing throughout the Splendida would accurately represent their brand. The scent was required to be noticeable enough to associate with MSC Cruises, without being too overbearing for its widespread distribution on the ship.

MSC Cruises has also made a name for itself as being extremely friendly to the environment. Passengers can rest assured that MED has been designed to adhere to their green standards.

Simon Harrop, who is involved with the marketing of BRAND sense, said “Whenever we encounter a product, an advert, a shop or a brand we have a sensory experience. Brands know this and they care deeply about that brand perception, in fact each year billions of dollars are invested in creating and improving that perception. But traditionally the investment, thought, energy and time have been focused only on sight and sound.

MSC Splendida is the newest addition to the cruise line’s fleet entering service in July of 2009.

Kochi is home port for MV Aquamarine, a new cruise ship that will ply between Kochi and Maldives and Kochi and Colombo with prices starting from Rs. 5000 per day. This is the first international cruise ship to have a home port in India.

Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja officially launched  the liner saying that this could very well be the beginning of unique Indian market. With the people of country especially the middle class looking for leisure trips.

Kochi will be home-port for Louis Sea Cruises’ MV Aquamarine from 2nd December to 25th April 2010 and will sail 3 times a week from Kochi. Tourists to the tune of 60,000 are expected to cruise this season. The crusie-liner will sail on her maiden voyage from Kochi to the Maldives today.

On board the MV Aquamarine is a casino, a swimming pool, several restaurants, massage facilities, and even duty-free shopping. Considering that the two itineraries are fairly of a short distance keeping to what Indians like the cruise liner is sure to be booked up to the monsoons next year.

Oasis of seas, the world’s largest cruise ship made its trip from Finland to America and arrived in Fort Lauderdale recently. The ship cost 1.5 billion dollar to build. It has 16 decks and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members. The ship will mainly be used to take vacationing people to Caribbean islands from America. Spending billions to construct something for entertainment and vacation is nothing new. The Las Vegas casinos are built at the cost of one or two billion dollars.

I salute to the engineers who built this ship. Definitely a great engineering marvel.

A file photo of the Oasis of the Seas which set sail from Finland to its home port in Florida on Friday

 The world’s largest cruise liner on Friday began its maiden voyage to Florida, gliding out from a shipyard in Finland with an amphitheater, basketball courts and an ice rink on board.

The 16-deck Oasis of the Seas spans 360 metres. Its 2,700 cabins can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew. Commissioned by Royal Caribbean International, the ship cost $1.5 billion and took two and a half years to build at the STX Finland Oy shipyard in Turku. The liner has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, theme parks and nurseries for children. There is also an ice rink that seats 780 spectators and a small-scale golf course. It features various “neighbourhoods” — parks, squares and arenas with special themes. One of them will be a tropical environment, including palm trees and vines.

Howdy readers….this is my first official blog…jippee! The intro and useless info bout myself will follow as soon as I find a spare second! But for now this will have to do…..enjoy!!

Have spent a whole of 30mins on Amsterdam airport- have sassed out the eating and drinking-outs and have settled on tap water and a seat with a view. Still haven’t escaped from ‘denial world’ or else referred to as fluffy bunny land. Reality is a mere 11 hours flight away. Tick tock.
For now I am quite content with ogling my fellow travelers…wonder if they would find it weird that I am capturing there most unattractive moments on camera….pictures to follow. Man, this is bliss – what life should be made of. The question asked 13 hours ago on CPT airport seems to be answering itself. Question being ‘WHY AM I DOING THIS?!?!’
So at my near 30 years of age, I have decided to pack up once again and yet off to what might be one of my best adventures yet. Feels like I should be getting married – accompanying me on my trip is something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
OLD: Have done the whole cruise liner gig – got the t-shirt
NEW: First time in Amsterdam – looks bit like UK at the mo – rain – gloomy – perfect coffee time
BORROWED: My fav person in the world’s luggage – AKA my little sis which will be referred to as DJ-Ro
BLUE: Color of my soul when saying goodbye to DJ-Ro and my 2nd fav person – my better half – Jay.
Spent R80 on a 30min wireless connection – need to stop converting everything into Rand! But was totally worth it. My new oath: to stay connected to family and friends in SA – no more bulk mail comprising out of 2 sentences. No sirry bob! Have compromised on food and drink for wireless and am finding myself not hoping for boarding – but rather looking forward to getting some liquid in my system. Faint headache creeping in – first stage dehydration – increased by the fact that I have utilized the toilet facilities 4 times since landing! Weird.
Am not sitting on a cold floor, wishing I had a treadmill or something here – would it be unusual to do a crab stand in the middle of the waiting room? Sitting for more than 24 hours is just not fun. Can’t wait to see the brand spanking new gym on the liner – don’t judge me.
K, another useless question. Why does everyone RUN to go stand in a queue when announced that we are boarding. Tricks of the trade ppl – wait till everyone is in – drink a coffee- THEN experience the bliss of jumping on the plane in 5 mins.

FREMANTLE will host the biggest cruise liner ever to visit WA when the Queen Mary 2 squeezes into the harbour next year.

The 152,000-tonne ship, the largest of any type to sail into WA, will be visiting on March 14, 2010.

Built in 2003, the 3000-passenger liner has 10 restaurants, five pools, 8000-book library, casino, nightclub and even a planetarium.

On offer is a 30-night fly-cruise-and-stay deal that includes a 29-night cruise visiting China, Japan, New Zealand, Sydney and Adelaide.

Cruise Express is offering the package, which includes meals, for $8795 per person, twin-share.

www.inmycommunity.com.au

I used to work on a cruise ship.  And it was GREAT!  After talking about it for years, I’ve decided to start this blog, and try to shed some light on what it’s really like for the people working onboard; maybe dispel some of the myths, and reveal some of the truths that are often hidden away behind closed doors, never to be seen by the paying customer.  Each day I’ll try and write the next chapter, so please come back and let me know your thoughts…

After finishing university and realising that I had no desire to join the 9 til 5 rat race at the age of 21, I decided that it was my life’s ambition to travel the world.   I explored a couple of options that were available to me.

1. I could backpack around the world; travelling alone, mano et rucksack, but knowing myself at the time, I’d cross the channel and run out of money after the first stop, then be forced to enter into a life of crime and prostitution to get myself to the next location.
2. My next alternative was working on a cruise ship.   Now that’s an option that is easier said than done.

There are surprisingly few ads in the yellow pages for cruise ship opportunities, and thousands of unscrupulous folk on the internet who will gladly tell you who to contact for jobs, all for the bargain price of $9.99.   It took me many months of scouring web pages, and although my badly bruised ego found it difficult to accept at the time, I did fall for several scams and parted with a substantial wad of cash for a young lad working nights in a pub.  Eventually though, after paying £15 for a pack of photocopied adverts on colourful paper (money well spent) I found a phone number for a company conducting interviews in London for bar staff for one of the major cruise liners.

Having been working in bars for most of my university life, I thought this was the logical route, so called the number and was told I would hear back with an interview shortly.  About two weeks later, the call came, asking me to make the journey down from Newcastle to London the following day for an interview with the recruitment manager for the crusie line.  With a definite sense of panic I accepted the interview and then frantically booked a train to London, contacted a friend living there and asked her to be my guide for the day.  Not knowing what to expect I had a restless night, went to the train station the following day and waved goodbye to my parents as if I was never to return.

The interview took place in a hotel basement in a side street of what I would describe as a very dodgy area.  I entered a room full of other spotty faced young individuals all looking desperately at each other as if they were facing the death sentence.  After waiting for an hour, and swapping nervous stories with other would be victims, I was called through to an adjoining room along with a few others.  Inside, there were several tables set up behind which were two severe looking individuals.  Each of the hopefuls were led to a table and sat sheepishly waiting for the torture to begin.  The first question I was asked was why I wanted to join the cruise industry.  I had spent the past few hours trying to come up with a plausable reason for this very question.

“Isn’t it obvious?  I want a free holiday around the world, and in return I’ll pour a few drinks for you!” was at the forefront of my mind, but I tried my very hardest and gave in hindsight what is probably a standard dull answer; I love working with and meeting new people, love travel, am not afraid of hard work; you get the picture.

However lame an answer I thought it was, it appeared to satisfy them.  Then started the quick fire cocktail round.  For all I had been working in bars for the past few years, I can honestly say that cocktails are not something that are regularly requested by a 43 year old toothless, balding biker in a leather jacket.  In fact, I would say that my idea of a cocktail was probably to put an umbrella in a pint of guiness.  So let’s agree that my knowledge was limited.  But that’s when I realised something.  Confidence is KEY.  I made up a list of drinks that Tom Cruise would be proud of.  Every twisted variation was greeted by blank faces, to which I would just reply, “must be a regional variation, you know, the north-south divide!”.

Whether they saw through my bluff or not I’m not sure, but after another 30 minutes of questioning about alcohol I was bid farewell, told that if I was successful I would hear within the month, and then escorted out of the room, forbidden to pass on my knowledge of the interview process to any of those still waiting.  My friend, who was patiently waiting next to the security guard at the door of the hotel was so confident in my abilities that she was already trying to wrangle a free cruise out of me when I joined my first ship.

After a hazy day of testing the cocktails I had created a few hours ago, I returned to the north to await the call I was so desperate to receive.

It took 2 weeks, and I had all but forgotten about the interview.  It was a sunny day, and my family and I were having a barbeque when the phone rang.  It was a representative for the cruise line, who was calling to inform me that my application was successful, and that I would be joining the cruise ship in two weeks time in Singapore.  I was told I would need a full medical by a GP registered with the company; none of whom work in the north of england; and I would also need to book my ticket to Singapore.  Ten minutes later, slightly dazed, I wandered outside and told my parents the news.  Two burgers, a chicken breast and an undercooked sausage later, we rushed back into the house and started taking care of the arrangements I needed.

I can’t remember a thing about the next two weeks, they were such a blur, but before I knew it I was once again waving goodbye to my folks, this time, quite possibly for the last time (have you seen Titanic?!?!) as I boarded my plane and went to start my new life…

Mr Biscuits – The Ocean Pearl (44 MB download)
Come on board the cruise liner the Ocean Pearl as you work to unravel its latest mystery! Something has happened to Mrs. Cambridge, and it is up to you and her lovable pug, Mr. Biscuits, to figure it out! Travel throughout the ship as you search for evidence and collect clues to solve your case. But be careful as the suspects involved will work to distract you and remove evidence from the scene. Who did it? Why did they do it? How does a dog know so much? Answer these questions and many more in this pooch-smart hidden object game.

The biggest ship ever to dock in Newcastle, England.

Read about this crazy big boat.

Lights on the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, waiting for the largest boat to ever dock there

I’ve never been on a cruise ship, but I’ve always thought about it — until now. 

Pirates — yes, pirates! — chased and shot at a U.S. cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board.

They failed to hijack the luxury cruise liner Sunday between Yemen and Somalia, the Associated Press reported. But they definitely made me (and probably many others) think twice about shelling out thousands of dollars for a cruise where you just might hear, “Pop, pop, pop.”

If I want to see pirates, I’ll just sit home and watch Capt. Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

My reaction is probably exactly what the cruise industry is dreading.

“As the recession takes hold, pushing down both prices and bookings, the last thing cruise lines need is for people to be too scared to take a holiday at sea,” Jane Archer wrote in the Telegraph today.

Fortunately, no one was hurt during Sunday’s pirate attack on Oceania Cruises’ ship Nautica.

But last October, FOX News reported maritime pirate attacks worldwide had jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007 compared to the same time a year earlier. 

An International Maritime Bureau (IMB) report showed 198 ship attacks were reported from January 2007 to September 2007, up from 174 in the same period in 2006.

The FOX News report also quoted IMB as saying 15 vessels had been hijacked, 63 crew kidnapped and three killed during that time period. 

The IMB keeps a weekly piracy report and a map of piracy activity.

Pirates chased and shot at a U.S. cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel as it sailed along a corridor patrolled by international warships.

From the Associated Press:

The liner, carrying 656 international passengers and 399 crew members, was sailing through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday when it encountered six bandits in two speedboats, said Noel Choong who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

The pirates fired at the passenger liner but the larger boat was faster than the pirates’ vessels, Choong said.

“It is very fortunate that the liner managed to escape,” he said, urging all ships to remain vigilant in the area.

The International Maritime Bureau, which fights maritime crime, did not know how many cruise liners use these waters.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said it was aware of the failed hijacking but had no further details.

Ship owner Oceania Cruises Inc. identified the vessel as the M/S Nautica.

In a statement on its Web site, the company said pirates fired eight rifle shots at the liner, but that the ship’s captain increased speed and managed to outrun the skiffs.

All passengers and crew are safe and there was no damage to the vessel, it said.

The Nautica was on a 32-day cruise from Rome to Singapore, with stops at ports in Italy, Egypt, Oman, Dubai, India, Malaysia and Thailand, the Web site said. Based on that schedule, the liner was headed from Egypt to Oman when it was attacked.

Pirates near Somalia chased and shot at a U.S. cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel, a maritime official said Tuesday.

The liner, carrying 656 international passengers and 399 crew members, was sailing in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday when it encountered six pirates in two speedboats, said Noel Choong who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer

The pirates fired at the passenger liner but the larger boat was faster than the pirates’ vessels, Choong said.

“It is very fortunate that the liner managed to escape,” he said, urging all ships to remain vigilant in the area.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said it was aware of the failed hijacking but did not have further details.

Ship owner Oceania Cruises Inc. identified the vessel as the M/S Nautica.

Read the rest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_re_af/pirac
y;_ylt=AtEfOsRh56UBoizZNCCURcms0NUE

In a statement on its Web site, the company said pirates fired eight rifle shots at the liner as it sailed along a maritime corridor patrolled by an international naval coalition, but that the ship’s captain increased speed and managed to outrun the skiffs. All passengers and crew are safe and there was no damage to the vessel, it said.

From Cruise Critic:

On November 30, 2008, at approximately 0928 local time, 0528 GMT, M/S NAUTICA was transiting through the Gulf of Aden within the prescribed Maritime Safety Protection Area which is patrolled by international anti-piracy task forces. As the vessel sailed past several groups of non-hostile fishing vessels, two small skiffs were sighted by the Officer on Duty and deemed potentially hostile. The skiffs, approaching from a range of approximately 1000 meters, attempted to intercept the vessel’s course.

“Captain Jurica Brajcic and his officers immediately began evasive maneuvers and took all prescribed precautions. NAUTICA was immediately brought to flank speed and was able to out run the two skiffs. One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to approximately 300 yards and fired eight rifle shots in the direction of the vessel before trailing off. No one aboard NAUTICA was harmed and no damage was sustained.

“All guests and crew onboard are safe and there were no injuries. All requisite international authorities have been notified and all anti-piracy precautions were in place prior to the event and all necessary measures were taken during the event.”

The Gulf of Aden lies between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Bordered by Djibouti and Somalia to the south west, and Yemen, to the north, this waterway is a mere 18 miles wide at its narrowest point (the Bab el Mandab Strait). It’s one of the most dangerous places in the world for ships, cargo and cruise vessels alike, to pass through due to increased piracy in the area.

This is actually the second time this year that pirates have zeroed in on a cruise ship. Le Ponant, a three masted luxury vessel, was seized in April by Somali pirates. That vessel was carrying 30 crew members — though no passengers — and after an eight day standoff those onboard were rescued. The ship ultimately was also rescued and pirates were captured.

Seabourn Spirit successfully outran a pirate attack in December 2005.

Most cruise ships that transit this most dangerous of international waterways are equipped with anti-piracy weaponry. A cruise captain whose ship traveled from the Mediterranean to the Seychelles already this fall, told Cruise Critic that particularly effective is a sonic device that is in essence like a heavy duty stereo speaker. It sends a sonic wave out to a directed target, punishing with a sound so potentially powerful that it bursts eardrums and shocks pirates into dropping weapons and losing focus.

Read the rest:
http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2961

Juneau you’re curious as to how this happened. Sorry.

A cruise ship with 51 people on board ran aground and was stuck for about nine hours in Alaska.

The ship was eventually towed to safety and a National Park Service vessel was transferring passengers and crew members to a nearby port before they were taken to Juneau, a US Coast Guard spokesman said.

A spokesman for Cruise West, which owns the ship, said the company was trying to get passengers to the Juneau airport.

Officials said the 63-metre Spirit of Glacier Bay grounded just after 7am (local time) today near Glacier Bay in Alaska.

The ship had 51 people onboard. No injuries were reported.

Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant Eric Eggen said it was unclear whether the grounding was caused by human error or a mechanical or electronic malfunction.

Source

The cruise liner SS United States held the record for the fastest trans-Atlantic voyage back when speed on the crossing was all the rage. Of course, her days were numbered because she was competing with airplanes and they go quite a bit faster. At any rate, this ship had a brief but proud history. Now, she is tied to a pier in Philadelphia and looks like this:

I was working on the river the day she came to Philadelphia. A flotilla of tugs escorted her under the Walt Whitman Bridge. It was quite a sight to behold. At the same time, it was depressing. We all knew she had been dragged around the world, her internals gutted, her glamour forgotten. This ship has none of the fancy atriums, or rock climbing walls, or other facilities demanded by passengers today. She has the classic look of the older liners instead of the shiny white hulls of the new ones. That said, she did set a record and that counts for something in the history books.

There was talk of refurbishing the ship and maybe a company will find a place to sail her. In the mean time, she sits at the dock, like a sad but pretty girl whose boyfriend left her at the dance all alone.

A cruise liner with 1,500 souls aboard, the most dangerous waters around the US coast and a GPS that tell lies to the autopilot for 36 hours with nobody noticing. Guess what happens next…

The Case of the Wandering Monarch

Listen to the podcast here

Read The Illustrated Transcript

Get the official report

Yesterday we went down to Cobh to see a huge ocean liner arrive into the port.

The town of Cobh* has a fascinating maritime history. For decades, before the rise of air travel, it was the departure point for millions of Irish people as they set sail for the New World. It was the last port of call of the Titanic before its fateful crossing. It received the dead bodies from the Lusitania, when it was torpedoed off the Old Head of Kinsale. And it is a later addition to the Republic of Ireland, a “treaty port” ceded to the State by Britain just before the onset of World War II. The headquarters of the Irish Navy is just across a narrow channel from Cobh, on the island of Haulbowline.

The ship, the Navigator of the Seas, is one of the largest cruise ships in the world with a weight of 140,000 tonnes. It can carry over 3,000 passengers. In this case, the boat was on a short weekend trip from Southampton. The passengers must have been amazed when they were greeted by a large crowd of onlookers. It was a holiday weekend here, with a local festival happening in the town.

My kids were well impressed. A floating hotel of this magnitude is an impressive sight, no matter what age you are.

* Cobh is pronounced, and means, “Cove”: unusually, an “irishisation” of an English word. Most of our place names are anglicisations of Irish Words.